Microstructure and swelling of neutron irradiated nickel and binary nickel alloys

Pure nickel in two starting cold-worked conditions and three solute-added binary nickel-based alloys in two other cold-worked conditions were irradiated in the BR-10 fast reactor at a range of temperatures between 673 and 823 K. The microstructure and swelling developed under irradiation were compared with those of other fast reactors operating at higher dpa rates. It was shown that in agreement with earlier studies cold-working can increase void swelling. It also appears that swelling reaches higher values as the dpa rate decreases, a trend seen in other studies. Further, the action of solutes, especially silicon and aluminum, on swelling and microstructure was consistent with the behavior observed in earlier studies. Finally, the evolution of yield strength was easily modeled in terms of the radiation-induced evolution of void, dislocation, and loop microstructure using standard hardening models. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.